DEVELOPING A PLAN FOR THE FUTURE PROJECT 2000 GOAL: TO HELP STEER CENTRAL FLORIDA DOWN THE RIGHT PATHS

In the year 2000, Central Florida will be recognized around the world as a haven for international trade and finance. It will be the distribution hub for the entire state and it will be the site for the national and international headquarters for many large corporations.

At least that's what the goal-setters at Greater Orlando Project 2000 Inc. are predicting for the region's economy.

Setting goals for Central Florida is the aim of Project 2000, a long- range community planning group affiliated with The Greater Orlando Chamber of Commerce.

With volunteer members from Central Florida's business community and public sector, the group has spent the past 12 months trying to develop a common vision for the future, said Linda Chapin, executive director. Chapin, a vice president of Pioneer Federal Savings and Loan Association, is on loan to the effort until it is completed next year.

The group is divided into committees that are dealing with the areas of transportation; education; crime prevention; the environment; government structure; economic development; arts, culture and recreation; and health, housing and human services.

The effort has been divided into three phases: goal-setting, strategic planning and implementation. A full-scale report on the goals set by the committees will be released at a June 12 luncheon at the Sheraton Maitland Center hotel. The group plans to spend the next year developing ways to accomplish the goals, Chapin said.

In the area of the economy, Chapin said the group recognizes that Central Florida will continue to be dominated by tourism and agriculture in the year 2000. The goals set for these areas include beefing up efforts to draw more conventions and trade shows.

But the group also sees the need to continue diversifying the region's economy, especially in the area of high technology. The goal in this area is to earn a worldwide reputation for high technology research with centers of excellence in simulation training, computers, lasers, biomedicine, robotics and alternative energy sources.

Another goal is the continuing revitalization of downtown Orlando. The group wants to see a "vibrant 24-hour downtown" that would be a center for commercial, retail and cultural activities.

The strategic planning concept behind Project 2000 has been tried successfully in other cities, Chapin said. San Francisco was one of the first, developing ways to better deliver public services while dealing with diminishing resources and rising costs. In Atlanta, a similar project led to the development of a mass transit system.

The aim behind Project 2000 is to set a blueprint for the future that both public agencies and private industry can work from, she said.

The strategic plans that will be developed in the next year won't have the force of law. However, because the goals and plans-of-action are being jointly developed by the public and private sectors, it will improve the cooperation between the business community and local governments, she said.

"We're not attempting to do the planning work of local government," Chapin said. "We're trying to find how private industry can help local government accomplish the goals for our community that we all share."

In developing a plan for the future, one of the first things the group had to do is find out what is going on in the present. The accounting firm of Arthur Anderson & Co., was hired to do what it calls an "environmental scan."

Chapin said the scan is a report covering existing records and projections for several hundred different readings of the economy, such as airport passenger traffic, retail sales and hospital beds, for example.

The scan will tie together all of the various projections to give committee members an idea of how the various parts of the economy tie together, Chapin said.

When the next phase of strategic planning is finished next year, the Orlando Chamber plans to become the catalyst in putting together coalitions to implement the plans, Chapin said.